A Listening Community

As we completed our listening posture last week, one of the questions we asked ourselves was, “If our community listens the way God wants us to, what will our community look like?” I love this question because it takes us beyond, “how can I be a better listener?” to what it can mean for all of us. We spent some time talking and dreaming together about the type of community God is growing us to be.

Here are some of the responses we came up with (bear with me, this is from looking at my personal notes a few days after the fact).

If our community listens the way God wants us to, we will…

• Be more honest with one another.  We will know and be comfortable with ourselves and one another in such a way that we can drop our defenses.
• Embrace and brokenness and therefore strive for wholeness together.
• Speak more thoughtfully and graciously.  We will speak less impulsively.
• Hear God everywhere.  We will be sensitive to God’s voice and find opportunities to share it with one another.
• Discover ministry overflowing/just happening from who we are.  Rather than manufacturing acts of service, our being-transformed lives will witness to God’s Good News.
• Be more intentional listening for God’s heart, our hearts, and the hearts of others.
• Take our individual responsibility to be shaped by God rather than trying to fix others.  As each one does this, and as we encourage one another in the process, we will all gain together.
• Better understand our identity in Christ and destiny.
• Center our lives with God, share that with one another, and actively seek God’s Kingdom.  We will be compelled to lived changed lives and desire the same for others.

God, may it be so.

2008 is underway!

News flash: 2008 has started! Even though we’re starting to update the blog a little late, we will be doing it more regularly. A good place to start is a quick introduction to the team (don’t judge us on our one-sentence descriptions! We’re bigger people than that!).

Here’s the best group picture we’ve taken so far this year. It was taken in the Pilansberg game reserve in February 2008.

Back row: Christo, Candice, Petro, Andrew, Arthur, Chris, Melissa
Front row: Doug, Amanda, Laura, Kellie, Mairin, Mariah, Jody, Arthur Paul, Iain, Roger

Christo is our mechanic, Petro does our books and Candice, their daughter, is great to have around. While not strictly “part” of Nieu Communities they’re part of the community, even if they don’t have the official hidden tattoo.

Andrew is using Pangani as a base this year while he helps local ministries better promote themselves through visual media. He has also taken the apprenticeship covenant, which means his eyebrows will be shaved at some point when he’s not looking.

Arthur is a capricorn and enjoys sunsets on the beach.  Originally from Colorado, he’s lived around California and is now South African by choice.  He leads the team and loves his wife and children.

Chris is from Florida and one of 7 apprentices this year. He likes steak, eclectic music, playing guitar and not holding Arthur’s hand.

Melissa is the mother of the three kids in the front row. She co-ordinates our weekly “How’s your heart?” check-in time and is always learning more about herself, and strawberry jam.

Doug is on staff, which means he takes the apprentices through some cool material and makes funny jokes. He stays about 5 minutes away from Pangani and people have developed the habit of saying to him, “Thank you, Mao Master,” at random times.

Apprentice Amanda is from Georgia and is learning to embrace the Southern craziness. “Cornbread” is apparently one word.

Apprentice Laura is from California and teaches piano, rumba and the five-fingered-exploding-heart move.

Apprentice Kellie, from Illinois, is our community massage therapist, cappucino maker and lover of all things flying.

Mairin is a butterfly who was born photogenic.

Apprentice Mariah is from Virginia and loves the beach. And cooking.

Apprentice Jody is our token Canadian who still manages to feel cold in South Africa.

Arthur Paul is training to be a Jedi, while Iain is learning the ways of monkey kung fu.

Apprentice Roger enjoys the taste of human legs, is apparently incapable of smiling in photos, and functions as the token White South African male.

Absent: Luc and Petunia, who’ve been part of Nieu Communities for several years and are heading up an InnerCHANGE house in Soshanguve.

Bryan and Daleen and their kids Zoe and Kyle stay pretty close to Pangani (where Daleen actually grew up!). They’re been part of the Nieu Communities journey since the start.